The dedication of a native-plant garden today at Fort Lewis College celebrates Earth Day and honors one of the institution’s own – the late Herbert E. Owen.

Owen, who became chairman of the FLC division of biological sciences during his 24 years at the college, long wanted an arboretum on the campus.

“Herbert Owen was a visionary,” Preston Somers, an Owen colleague for nine years and a friend for 36 years, said Thursday by telephone from North Carolina. “This garden is the realization of a dream that he had for the college.”

Somers will speak at today’s 3 p.m. dedication of the garden, between Berndt and Kroeger halls. The garden holds 150 perennials and 30 shrubs.

Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970.

The FLC garden is to become an outdoor classroom, per the vision of Owen. Many of his early plantings can be seen around the campus.

“The combination of putting native plants in a horticultural setting is a metaphor for Herb,” Somers said. “He was a classic academic botanist and plant ecologist with a strong interest in horticulture.”

Owen, who graduated from Oregon State University in 1955 and was hired the same year by FLC when it was in Hesperus, at the time was the school’s only biology professor.

After he retired in 1979, Owen moved to Salida. He died in January 2005.

The garden was funded by donations and a Title 3 grant. Title 3 money is available to institutions that have a high number of students receiving need-based financial aid.

The garden covers 2,500 square feet. Among its vegetation native to the region are juniper, ponderosa pine, prickly pear, rabbit brush, yucca, squaw apple, service berry, Gambel oak and buffaloberry.

daler@durangoherald.com